Is “click here” a spam trigger word?
“Click here” is a low-trust call-to-action associated with promotions, phishing, and link-bait, so it's a mild spam signal — and it's bad practice for accessibility and SEO too. The bigger deliverability risk usually isn't the phrase itself but what it's attached to: lots of links, shortened or mismatched URLs, and link-heavy, text-light emails.
Also flagged: click below, click to remove.
“Click here” is a relic of low-quality bulk mail. On its own it's a weak signal, but it almost always co-occurs with the things that actually hurt — multiple links, URL shorteners, and a thin body that's mostly a button — which is the pattern filters and phishing detectors really care about.
- Category
- Shady / phishing
- Risk level
- Low (the links around it matter more)
- Bigger risks
- Many links, URL shorteners, link-only emails
- Safer phrasing
- Descriptive link text describing the destination
Key takeaways
- “Click here” is a weak content signal; link patterns around it matter more.
- Link-heavy, text-light emails and shortened/mismatched URLs are the real deliverability risk.
- Descriptive link text (“see the 2-minute teardown”) beats “click here” for filters, accessibility, and clarity.
- One clear, descriptive link outperforms several generic ones.
Why does “click here” look like spam?
“Click here” gives the reader (and the filter) no information about where the link goes — which is exactly how phishing and low-quality promos operate. Because it's so common in that mail, it became a weak negative signal. But the phrase is rarely the deciding factor by itself.
What filters weigh more heavily is the link environment: how many links there are, whether they use shorteners, whether the visible text matches the real destination, and whether the email is mostly a button with little real content. Fix those and “click here” barely registers; leave them and no amount of wording saves you.
Do links send emails to spam?
Links don't inherently hurt, but link patterns do. A long cold email that is mostly links, a message built around a URL shortener (which hides the destination), or anchor text that doesn't match the real URL all look like the evasion tactics phishing uses — and modern filters and security gateways score those aggressively.
The safe pattern is boring on purpose: one or two links to your real domain, with link text that describes the destination, inside an email that has actual sentences around them. That reads as a person sharing something useful, not a promotion routing you somewhere.
What should you use instead of “click here”?
Describe the destination in the link text: “read the 2-minute teardown”, “grab a time on my calendar”, “see last quarter's numbers”. It's clearer for the reader, better for accessibility and SEO, and it removes the generic-CTA signal.
Then audit the links themselves: keep them to your own domain, avoid shorteners in cold mail, make the visible text match the URL, and don't let the email become a link with a sentence attached. The wording is the easy part — the link hygiene is what protects deliverability.
Before and after
As of June 2026.Sources:Google — Email sender guidelinesFTC — CAN-SPAM Act compliance guide
Is “Click here” in your email?
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Check your email free“Click here” — frequently asked questions
